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Indian Hindu leader calls for idols to be placed in Masjids and churches

By Jumadal Ukhra - 16 April 2015

In a shocking incident, a Hindu Mahasabha leader on Saturday made a statement saying Muslims and Christians in the country should be sterilized in order to check their increasing population.

According to a report by India Today, Sadhvi Deva Thakur, vice president of All India Hindu Mahasabha stirred up a controversy after she said that the growing population of Christians and Muslims posed a threat to Hindus.

“The population of Muslims and Christians is growing day by day. To rein in this, Centre will have to impose emergency, and Muslims and Christians will have to be forced to undergo sterilisation so that they can’t increase their numbers,” Thakur said.

This is not the first time she has made a controversial statement. Recently, she had encouraged Hindus to have more children so that the Hindu population could outgrow other religious populations of the world.

According to the report, she made another controversial remark when she said that idols of Hindu gods and goddesses should be placed in mosques and churches.

The news comes in the wake of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s controversial statement asking the voting rights of Muslims to be revoked for some years to ensure the community is not used for vote bank politics.

“If Muslims are only being used this way to play politics, then they can never develop. Muslims will have no future till they are used to play vote bank politics and thus Balasaheb had demanded that the voting rights of Muslims should be taken away. What he said is right,” Raut wrote in an article in the latest issue of the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna.

Balasaheb Thackeray was the founder of Shiv Sena.

“Balasaheb had said 15 years ago that if the voting rights of Muslims are taken away for a few years, then the vote bank politics will stop,” Raut reiterated in the article.

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) told Muslims to marry young and have a lot of children, yet Muslims are doing the opposite in disobedience to the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). The kuffar understand this and so they are doing everything (free money, cars, houses, etc.) to encourage their people to have more children while they are teaching the Muslims to have only two children and to delay the marriage in favor of careers.

No Hijab protest by Islamophobic Hindutva students in college, taunting Muslim girls

The onslaught against the Muslim women clothing continues to grow.

The Muslim women’s attire is in the centre of attention again, and this time for the wrong reasons. A bizarre protest was held to exert pressure on the Principal to impose ban on Muslim girls’ Hijab inside college in India, about 50 boys have started coming to college with saffron shawl.

Interestingly, the Dr K Shivaram Karanth Government First Grade College and Post Graduation Centre has about 492 students of which only 15 are Muslim girls and 4 Muslim boys.

When the Principal called and questioned the protest, the anti-hijab agitators of the college, who vow loyalty to hard-line (extremists) Hindutva groups said that this was a “protest” against a college lecturer and some Muslim girls wearing hijab.

They are also motivating all Hindu male students to wear saffron shawls but most of the them is not willing to join the saffron agitation.

Sources in the college said:

Their demand was to stop the Muslim girls wearing scarf.

The college principal Chandrashekar Kantamangala in its report to Deccan Chronicle said,

Some girls are wearing the black shawl of the uniform on their head and few of them wear it like hijab. However they are wearing only the black uniform shawl (part of the uniform).

However, photos of saffron clad students are going viral on Facebook and WhatsApp and has set off a debate on social media. Some lend their support to Hindutva group agitators, while others have criticized them.

Sindhu on Facebook commented:

Hijab is a religious obligation to Muslims. Muslim girls hesitate to show any part of their body except hands and face. Demanding ban on hijab is an act of intolerance.

Firdous, a farmer student of the same college on WhatsApp group:

Interestingly, only a few male students with poor academic record, are raising voice against those girls who cover their body fully. Their attitude clearly shows that they lack manners and common sense.

Another Muslim girl said that some of the ABVP activists keep taunting Muslim girls in college for wearing hijab:

Their intention is to insult Muslim girls. But, they are insulting Sita Mata and mother Mary too because, they also used to cover their body fully unlike western women.

An Indian woman has said that she and her 14-year-old cousin were gang raped and two relatives murdered, after being accused of being Muslims who ate beef.

The woman, 20, told the BBC that four men carried out the attack in northern Haryana state two weeks ago. She denied consuming beef.

She said the men beat her uncle and aunt to death in their home in Mewat.

Many Hindus consider cows sacred and the slaughter of the animal is banned in several states, including Haryana.

The suspects have been arrested and charged with rape and murder.

However police have told reporters that there is no evidence to suggest that cow protection groups were involved in the attack.

Although the rape took place two weeks ago, news of the incident has only just come out.

"They [the accused men] said that we ate cow meat and that is why we were being disgraced [raped]. They even threatened to kill me and my family if we ever told anybody what happened to us," the woman told BBC Urdu.

Muslim-dominated Mewat district, 100km (62 miles) from the capital Delhi, recently made headlines after a senior official told reporters that police would check dishes of mutton biryani to ensure they did not contain beef.

The latest attack has increased tensions.

Rape and gender crimes have been in the spotlight in India in recent years after the brutal gang rape and murder of a student in 2012 in Delhi.

In response, tough new anti-rape laws were introduced in the country.

However, brutal sexual attacks against women and children continue to be reported across the country.

Extremists Hindu Terrorists Rape 2 Muslim Girls

In the Rape Capital of the world, Muslim girls were gang raped by extremists Hindu terrorists in Haryana for allegedly eating beef... Hindu extremists supporter police did nothing as always until locals protested. The reporters keep calling them cow "vigilantes" when they are extremists who beat and kill men and rape women for eating beef or allegedly eating beef in India.

Inshallah can't wait till these animals are conquered again and hopefully more is done than just trying to civilize them.

'They asked if we eat beef. We said we didn't, but they insisted we did,' says victim

by May Bulman - 12 September 2016

A Muslim woman who was gang raped in India has said her attackers asked her whether she ate beef in what some suspect was another crime by Hindu vigilante groups.

The 20-year-old and her 14-year-old cousin were attacked by a group of men who trespassed into their home in Mewat, Haryana, and murdered their uncle and aunt before sexually assaulting the female victims two weeks ago.

Local police originally arrested four men for trespass and sexual assault, but after protests from the local community the men were charged with murder.

Now the older victim has said the men asked the victims whether they ate beef before insisting they did and proceeding to attack them.

She told NDTV: “They asked if we eat beef. We said we don't, but they insisted we did.

"Then they said we're hurting you before so you don't and that if we tell anyone we'll will be insulted."

Senior police officers have so far reportedly said the men had no link to so-called "cow vigilante groups".

But the Muslim community has expressed fears about a rise in attacks by Hindu groups.

Hindus consider cows sacred and the slaughter of the animal is banned in Haryana, along with several other states.

Earlier this year two Muslim women were beaten up at a train station in India on suspicion of carrying beef.

In the Rape Capital of the world, Muslim girls were gang raped by extremists Hindu terrorists in Haryana for allegedly eating beef... Hindu extremists supporter police did nothing as always until locals protested. The reporters keep calling them cow "vigilantes" when they are extremists who beat and kill men and rape women for eating beef or allegedly eating beef in India.

A group of men have surrounded a cowering schoolgirl in a sugarcane field somewhere in Uttar Pradesh. Her folded hands are shaking and her eyes are wide open with terror. She looks around desperately, hoping against hope for someone to save her. But her cries don't reach anyone. Someone can be heard tittering in the background. And then one of the goons pounces on her.

In shops across UP, right under the nose of the police and the administration, rape videos are being sold in hundreds, perhaps thousands, every day. Depending on the "exclusivity" of the clips, which are 30 seconds to even 5 minutes long, they are priced anywhere from Rs 50 to 150.

It's still "under the counter" and dealers will talk only to those who've come armed with a trusted customer's "reference", but it is open and rampant. "Porn is passe. These real life crimes are the rage," said a shopkeeper at Agra's market. "Dealers will download videos directly into your smart phone or put them in your pen drive." Sometimes individuals or organised gangs download such stuff from Twitter, Tumbler or Facebook accounts and sell them. Sometimes, however, culprits involved in rapes or assaults take videos of the crime and post them online.

It is a matter of time before they go viral," said a shopkeeper in Agra's market. At another shop, a man is telling teenagers that they might even know the girl in the "latest, hottest" video. In the horrifying clip, two men have pinned down a girl, who looks like she is in her early 20s. Her boyfriend is being beaten up. "Maaf karo, maaf karo (Spare me)," he is crying. The girl pleads, "Kam se kam, video toh mat utaaro (At least don't shoot a video)."

A senior cop told TOI that rapists invariably also record the crime on their phones. It is then used as a blackmailing tool to either bully the victims -stopping them from going to the cops -or to pressure them into further sexual submission. "A threat to post the rape online is very potent," he said. Speaking to TOI, Agra city SP Ghule Sushil Chandrabhan said, "In the past we have conducted raids at Tajganj and Sadar areas and arrested one for selling explicit videos and pirated films. We will continue to raid such places." Sources in the police said it would be close to impossible to put an end to the trend.

The video shows two men sitting on the road, with the cow dung concoction in a packet before them, attempting to wash it down their throats with water.

June 28, 2016
In the wake of gunshot injuries to three gau rakshaks over the past two days in Haryana, allegedly in altercations with people transporting beef, a video has surfaced showing volunteers of the Gau Rakshak Dal forcing two men, who they suspected were beef transporters, to eat a concoction of cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd and ghee almost a fortnight ago.

Admitting that they had forced the two men — Rizwan and Mukhtiar — to eat “panchgavya” (cow dung concoction) on June 10, Dharmendra Yadav, president of the Gurgaon Gau Rakshak Dal, said volunteers, acting on a tip-off, intercepted a vehicle transporting “700 kg of beef from Mewat to Delhi” on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway.

“We had to chase the car for 7 km before we finally managed to stop them near the Badarpur border,” Yadav said. He has no idea who shot the video.

“When we caught them, they had 700 kg of beef in their car. We made them eat the panchgavya to teach them a lesson, and also to purify them,” Yadav said.

MALAPPURAM: A 32-year-old man, who had converted to Islam six months ago, was brutally hacked to death at Farook Nagar in Kodinhi, here, in the wee hours on Saturday.

Faisal P, alias Aneesh Kumar, son of Ananthan Nair, of Kodinhi, was found dead by the roadside at about 4 am by local residents. An auto rickshaw, which he had used for his transportation, was found abandoned by the dead body.

According to the neighbors, Faisal had received threats even from his family members after he accepted Islam.

Faisal had his scalp almost slit open possibly by sharp-edged weapon and his entrails pulled out by the attackers.

The police said that he had converted to Islam about six months ago while he was working in Gulf as a driver. Faisal, who is fondly known as Unni, returned home only four months ago after working in Gulf for a year.

His wife, who has embraced Islam recently, has been attending classes at Mounathul Islamic Sabha at Ponnani. The couple has three children going to Islamic Education Centre (IEC) High School at Kodinhi.

A forensic team from Thrissur, dog squad and a team of fingerprint experts visited the site.

Mother adopts Islam after son was killed for converting into Islam, changes her name to Jameela

December 2, 2016

Mother of Faisal, who was hacked to death by a group of RSS workers for converting to Islam in Kodinhi, Malappuram district of Kerala, accepted Islam on Wednesday. She changed her name from Meenakshi to Jameela. The conversion ceremony was held under the leadership of a Sayyid from Maunathul Islam Sabha.

Earlier Faisal's wife and children had converted to Islam and were planning to go to Ponnani to learn basics of the religion. Now, his mother will also accompany them.

Speaking to media, Meenakshi has earlier said that she had given permission to her 32-year-old son who was murdered on 19 November 2016 to convert to Islam.

He converted to Islam after getting permission from me. He was in very good terms with the whole family even after he changed his religion. However, Sangh Parivar workers in neighborhood and some of the relatives were very angry with his decision. Vinod (Faisal's sister's husband) had threatened him of chopping his head. He even told this to my daughter. - Faisal's mother

He was killed in the early hours of the day by a group of assailants, who were later identified as RSS workers, for converting to Islam and prompting his family members to do so. Those arrested included his brother-in-law Vinod and seven others.

Muslim Woman Beaten By Terrorist Bajrang Dal and They Gangraped Her And Wanted To Hang Her

When a group of Bajrang Dal men first accosted and then mercilessly beat up a Muslim couple in Khurja in Bulandshahr district last week, thinking the woman was Hindu (she later turned out to be Muslim, but that didn't stop the beatings) and that it was a case of love jihad..., the woman had kept quiet about one thing. In court, she has now alleged that the Bajrang Dal men later gang-raped her. Following this, police have changed the original FIR to include gang rape charges.

In an interview to a local Hindi news channel, the woman said on Saturday that the men not only raped her but tried to hang her by a noose one of them made. "My friend and I were sitting in a room when a group of men approached us and asked us why we were sitting there. They started beating both of us and dragged him out of the room before raping me. One of them suggested to the others that we should be hanged by a noose."

According to the woman, the men boasted that they were members of the Bajrang Dal and they could do whatever they wanted. In the video clip of the incident, which has since gone viral, the group of men can be seen telling the two, "Tum log Hindu mohalle ko ganda karte ho (You lot are dirtying a Hindu locality)."

A neighbor of the woman TOI spoke to said, "After the incident, she came home and told us everything that had happened. Two men had taken her inside the room and three others followed them. In the room, they took turns raping her. They then beat her up even more. Luckily, her face was covered in the video that has gone viral. It was only after she gave her statement in court that the gang rape section was added to the FIR. All she wants now is justice."

Hindu extremist terrorize and beat up Muslim couple for "dirtying" their neighborhood.

All of their land is a slum and this filthy dogs are trying to take it out on Muslim minority rather then cleaning up their act.

She also said that idols of Hindu gods and goddesses should be placed in mosques and churches.

11 Apr 2015

A leader of Hindu Mahasabha on Saturday stoked a controversy saying Muslims and Christians must undergo sterilization to restrict their growing population which was posing a threat to Hindus.

"The population of Muslims and Christians is growing day by day. To rein in this, Centre will have to impose emergency, and Muslims and Christians will have to be forced to undergo sterilization so that they can't increase their numbers," vice president of All India Hindu Mahasabha, Sadhvi Deva Thakur told reporters in Jind.

She also exhorted Hindus to have more children and increase their population so as to have an effect on the world. In another controversial remark, she said idols of Hindu gods and goddesses should be placed in mosques and churches.

Thakur also came out strongly in support of installing a statue of "patriot" Nathuram Godse in Haryana.

Caught redhanded while throwing ‪Beef into a Hindu Mandir (temple) in Azamgarh, the ‪Muslim lady tried to escape gathering her long burka round her ankles as she ran. The thought of upsetting peaceful Hindu's, causing maximum offence and injuring their sentiments with her highly treacherous actions brought a wry smile across her obscured face as she hurried and she began to feel the warmth of accomplishment....right?
WRONG.

She wasn't a Muslim, infact 'she' wasn't a she at all... this was a man. A Hindu man. Desecrating a Hindu place of worship. Dressed in a burka.

It turns out, that the old tactic, employed for decades from Panjab to Kashmir to Orrisa is being employed again by those with a desire to create exploitable tension between the majority Hindu population against any of the various minorities of India.

Although apprehended, it's not expected to ever reach a court of law, it's a certainty that the current fascist RSS sired BJP government will ensure no convictions will be reached.

This absolutely disgraceful attempt at blaming the Muslim community for a blasphemous attack on a Hindu temple, comes only a day after a mob of fanatical Hindu's had beaten a Muslim man to death and sexually assaulted his wife and children, simply because of a rumour that he had eaten beef... which he had not.

Welcome yet again, to the Banana Republic of India... where the reality of the BJP/RSS fascist ideologically driven governance is at odds with the superstar rhetoric being delivered by PM Modi during his global 'tour'.

It was on Wednesday evening that Junaid and Hashim attained the title of a “Hafiz” after investing over three years to memorize the Quran by heart and got Rs 1500 as a reward from their mother.

It was their first Eid after becoming a Hafiz and they wanted to look their best. To celebrate and shop, they planned a visit to Delhi’s Jama Masjid and promised to return before sundown. One of the two could not.

Junaid was allegedly stabbed to death and four others were injured on board a Mathura-bound train when an argument over a seat turned into religious slurs and triggered a mob attack on family members returning home from Eid shopping.

The incident took place on Thursday evening between Okhla and Asoti in Haryana, a distance of about 60 km. The four injured told Hindustan Times at Khaddawli, a small village in Haryana’s Faridabad district, the attackers repeatedly called them “anti-nationals” and “beef eaters”, threw their skull caps on the floor, caught their beards and taunted them with terms such as “mulla”.

“Junaid was so happy that he will be formally felicitated for their achievement on Eid. Since Ramzan started, he and Hashim had been reciting the Quran everyday at the mosque. They wanted to look good, so they specially went to purchase a new set of clothes to Jama Masjid. Their mother asked them to fetch the best sewaiyan and sweets to be served on the festival. He promised to reach home early, but what reached home was his dead body. How could those men be so cruel to have pierced my son’s body like that,” Jallaluddin, Junaid’s father, said.

“He was a child. He was just 16. How could they hate us so much to have killed him so brutally? When I reached the spot, my son Hashim was sitting on the station with Junaid’s body soaked in blood in his lap,” he added, even as he was being consoled intermittently by fellow villagers in Khadwali, Haryana.

Jallaluddin had reached Ballabgarh station to pick up his sons so that they could go to open the fast together, but when he reached the train had already left.

“Sakir (Junaid’s elder brother who boarded the train at Ballabgarh after being informed about the attack) called me saying that he was going to the station to pick up the boys. He asked me to come to the station as well. He never told me that there was a problem. When I reached the station, the train had already left. When I could not locate the boys I called Sakir, he also did not take the call. Junaid and Hashim too did not pick. I thought the boys must have left. What did I know that they were fighting for their life,” he said.

Saira, Junaid’s mother, was oblivious to the news of her son’s death. Till Friday morning she was not informed about it. When the women from the village started visiting her to console her, she wondered why they were there.

“Women kept coming and asking me about Junaid. I wondered why they were referring to him in the past tense. No one ever told me that he was no more. How could they hide it from me,” she said, fighting back her tears.

“I got to know only when his body returned home this morning. When he did not reach home last night, I kept asking his father about his whereabouts but no one answered me,” she said.

Saira said she will never be able to celebrate the festival of Eid. “This time it was special. My sons became the Hafiz. The preservers. And a day later I lost him. How can this be justified. How am I to cope up with this loss?”

Indian authorities should promptly investigate and prosecute self-appointed “cow protectors” who have committed brutal attacks against Muslims and Dalits over rumors that they sold, bought, or killed cows for beef, Human Rights Watch said today. Instead of taking prompt legal action against the vigilantes, many linked to extremist Hindu groups affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the police, too often, have filed complaints against the assault victims, their relatives, and associates under laws banning cow slaughter.

Many Hindus consider the cow to be a holy animal, and slaughter is forbidden in most parts of Hindu-majority India. Since May 2015, a violent vigilante campaign against beef consumption has led to the killing of at least 10 Muslims, including a 12-year-old boy, in seven separate incidents of mob violence. In July 2016, in Gujarat, vigilantes stripped four Dalit men, tied them to a car, and beat them with sticks and belts over suspicions of cow slaughter. In a number of cases, the attackers have also robbed their victims of cash and cellphones, and damaged their property.

“Self-appointed ‘cow protectors’ driven by irresponsible populism are killing people and terrorizing minority communities,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director. “The government should condemn this violence and take prompt action against those responsible for these attacks or face allegations of complicity.”

In one recent case, on April 21, 2017, in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir state, a mob brutally attacked five members of a nomad cattle-herding family, including a 9-year-old girl, on suspicion that they were taking their cows for slaughter. A video posted on social media showed a group of men chanting slogans commonly used by BJP supporters, breaking down the family’s shelter, beating an elderly man with rods and sticks even as women begged for mercy, and finally setting the shelter on fire. Several policemen can be seen in the video while the mob carries out the attack, but they appeared to be outnumbered and stay back when the mob pushes them back. Police have arrested 11 people for the assault.

On April 22, in New Delhi, purported animal rights activists allegedly belonging to People for Animals, which is led by a BJP official, beat up three men in a truck for transporting buffaloes. Initially, the police failed to arrest anyone for the assault or investigate the role of People for Animals, which denied involvement in the attack. Instead, the police arrested the three victims under a law preventing cruelty to animals after the injured victims were taken to a hospital. The men were released on bail a day later. Two days after the incident, the police arrested a Delhi resident who claimed to be a member of People for Animals. The police were informed of the incident by another member of People for Animals who was allegedly part of a “raid team” that regularly stops vehicles to see whether they contain cattle. People for Animals, which started as an animal rights group, said that since 2014 it has shut down some of its city units, including in Delhi, due to allegations of vigilantism and extortion against its members.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was chief minister of Gujarat state and during the 2014 national election campaign, repeatedly called for the protection of cows, raising the specter of a “pink revolution” by the previous government that he claimed had endangered cows and other cattle to export meat. BJP leaders have attempted to portray the majority Hindu population asvictims, whipping up fear of Muslim men who they say kidnap, rape, or lure Hindu women into relationships as part of a plot to make India into a Muslim-majority country. In the period leading up to the Uttar Pradesh state elections in 2017, a BJP lawmaker, Yogi Adityanath, the current chief minister, raised fears of a Hindu exodus in western Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest concentration of Muslims in the state.

Since the BJP came to power in May 2014, extremist Hindu groups supporting Modi and his party have led vigilante mob attacks across the country to enforce “nationalism.” Senior BJP leaders, including elected officials and leaders of various groups who claim to promote Hindu rights, have instigated hate crimes. Self-appointed cow protectors are increasingly conducting raids and attacks, claiming the police don’t take adequate action against those slaughtering cows. There have been numerous incidents in which they have allegedly assaulted, harassed, threatened, and extorted money from Muslims and Dalits. Dalits, so-called “untouchables,” are equally vulnerable as they traditionally carry out jobs to dispose of cattle carcasses and skin them for commercial purposes.

Among the largest cow protection networks is the Bharatiya Gau Raksha Dal (“India Cow Protection Group”), an umbrella organization registered in 2012. Its leader, Pawan Pandit, told Human Rights Watch that the network is affiliated with about 50 groups across the country and that their 10,000 volunteers have a presence in nearly every state. “Now the entire India is a cow protection group because people are angered by such cruelty to animals,” Pandit said, adding that even the BJP government was not strong enough on cow protection. He denied allegations of violence by his members, saying those were spontaneous acts by local residents angered by the ill-treatment and slaughter of cows.

“The mild admonitions from BJP leaders when Muslims and Dalits are lynched over cows sends a message that the BJP supports this violence,” Ganguly said. “Instead of a government that took office on the promise of universal development, it now appears to be one unwilling to protect those most vulnerable.”
​Recent ‘Cow Protection’ Cases and Concerns

Government Silence and Denial

On April 1, 2017, a mob in the northwestern state of Rajasthan brutally assaulted a 55-year-old dairy farmer, Pehlu Khan, and four others with sticks and belts. Khan died two days later from his injuries. Three of the six accused have been arrested. The state’s BJP-led government did not condemn the killing, and its minister for parliamentary affairs denied that the attack occurred. Rajasthan’s home minister sought to defend the so-called cow protectors by blaming the victims: “People know cow trafficking is illegal, but they do it. Gau bhakts [Cow worshippers] try to stop them. There’s nothing wrong with that but it’s a crime to take the law in their hands.”

Instead of filing a complaint against the attackers, the police first registered a complaint against Khan and the other victims under the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995, for exporting cattle and showing cruelty to the animals, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The police waited two hours before filing a complaint against the unidentified mob. Khan’s son alleged that the police filed the case against the family even though they had receipts showing that they purchased the cattle legitimately in Rajasthan.

Mohammed Yusuf, the brother of one of those injured in the attack, told Human Rights Watch that the attackers also stole 35,000 rupees (US$540) his brother was carrying, his cellphone, and three cows worth 75,000 rupees (US$1,150). He no longer wants to be part of the dairy business. “We have decided that we are not going to have anything more to do with cattle,” he said. “If we can’t keep milk cows, if we now need permission to drink milk, why should we keep cows?”

On April 23, several former civil service officers wrote to the state’s chief minister demanding that all the accused members of the mob be immediately arrested, saying that failure to take prompt action would be a “mockery of good governance, causing minorities to lose faith in the government’s ability to protect their rights.” Two days later, the chief minister finally broke her silence and said, “such activities won’t be tolerated in Rajasthan.”

States Prompting Cow Protections

Even as BJP leaders failed to condemn attacks on Muslims and other minorities, they have announced new policies for cow welfare and made strong statements about the need to protect cows. Their policies and statements have facilitated abuses by cow protection groups in BJP-ruled states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

In March 2017, the Gujarat government made slaughtering a cow punishable by life in prison. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP chief minister said, “We will hang those who kill cows.” In 2016, the Haryana government decided to give licenses to some cow protection groups to help the police keep a check on alleged cow smuggling. Group members are often seen patrolling the streets, especially highways, at night, stopping vehicles, checking them for cattle, intimidating drivers, and reacting with violence if they find cows. These vigilantes have also physically assaulted legitimate cattle transporters even when they are transporting other animals, such as buffaloes.

There have been reports in the media of cow protectors allegedly assaulting Muslim men and women in trains and railway stations in Madhya Pradesh, stripping and beating Dalit men in Gujarat, force feeding cow dung and urine to two men in Haryana, raiding a Muslim hotel in Jaipur, aiding police in checking roadside food stalls and restaurants for beef in Haryana ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid, and an alleged gang rape and murder in Haryana of people the attackers claimed were eating beef at home.

The Haryana government has set up a 24-hour helpline for citizens to report cow slaughter and smuggling and appointed police task forces to respond to the complaints. Rajasthan’s government has had a dedicated department for ensuring the welfare of cows since 2013. In April 2017, the state government imposed additional taxes for “conservation and propagation of cow and its progeny.”

Soon after the BJP appointed Adityanath, a Hindu cleric, as chief minister of India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh in March, he cracked down on slaughterhouses and meat shops, mostly run by Muslims. He contended that he was shutting down illegal establishments, but the businesses said they were forced to close without notice or due process. Cow protectors and members of an extremist Hindu group, Hindu Yuva Vahini, founded by Adityanath in 2002, aided the police in some of these operations.

Several members of the group, including Adityanath, face criminal charges for inciting violence, attempt to murder, rioting, carrying deadly weapons, and promoting enmity between two religious groups. The group has used violence, threats, and intimidation to shut down meat businesses, news reports say. But the state’s deputy chief minister and BJP state party president told Reuters that members of Adityanath’s organization were acting as responsible citizens and rejected allegations that they were acting “as a parallel administration.”

The authorities have largely ignored the young men roaming streets and beating up Muslims and Dalits in the name of protecting cows, and have targeted instead the peaceful critics of such actions. At least seven people – including a poet, a filmmaker, and a student – have been booked on criminal charges for criticizing Adityanath on social media. The charges range from hurting the religious sentiments of a community to promoting enmity between groups.

On April 22, members of the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, groups affiliated with the BJP, attacked two police stations in Uttar Pradesh to protest the arrest of their colleagues for allegedly beating up and robbing a Muslim man. The police said that the men, from Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, threw stones at the police stations, beat up a policeman, set fire to his motorcycle, and took his service revolver. A senior police officer told the media that men from Hindu Yuva Vahini were also part of the mob that attacked the stations.

Inadequate Response to Killings over Cows Prior to Pehlu Khan’s murder on April 1, at least nine other people were fatally beaten or lynched by Hindu mobs over suspicions that they were trading or killing cows for beef.

Rajasthan, May 2015

Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi, 60, who ran a meat shop in Birloka village in Nagaur district, was beaten brutally by a mob with sticks and iron rods on May 30, 2015. He died the following day. The mob also vandalized his home and shop. Two years after the incident, the police have filed murder charges against three accused in the attack, while six are yet to be arrested. The case is pending in court.

Uttar Pradesh, August 2015

A mob beat to death three men suspected of being cattle thieves – Anaf, Arif, and Nazim – in the Kaimrala village of Dadri town on August 2, 2015. The mob also set their truck on fire after they found two buffaloes in it. A farmer who witnessed the incident told Frontline magazine that the police arrived after the men were already dead. He said, “When a cow is killed, passions get ignited and these things can happen.”

The police filed a case against the dead men for theft, trespass, and attempted murder, alleging that they opened fire first. The superintendent of police did not respond to questions from Human Rights Watch about whether there was any case against the villagers for killing the men.

Uttar Pradesh, September 2015

On September 28, 2015, a mob in Bishara village in Dadri town beat to death Mohammad Akhlaq, 50, with bricks and critically injured his 22-year-old son. The attack came after an announcement at a nearby Hindu temple that Akhlaq had slaughtered a calf. The police arrested six people but also seized the meat from Akhlaq’s home and sent it for a forensic exam to determine whether it was beef. The villagers protested the arrests by damaging vehicles, including a police van, and setting a motorcycle on fire.

The Uttar Pradesh government, then led by the Samajwadi party, announced compensation of 10 lakh rupees (US$15,500) to Akhlaq’s family and the chief minister ordered district officials and police to provide full protection to his family. However, a senior BJP leader and minister in the central government called Akhlaq’s killing an “accident.”

Another BJP legislator from the state, Sangeet Som, already facing charges for allegedly inciting communal riots, visited Dadri following Akhlaq’s killing to show solidarity with the accused, one of whom is the son of a local BJP leader. Som did not condemn Akhlaq’s murder and instead criticized the state government for not taking legal action against Akhlaq’s family. In Haryana, the neighboring state, the chief minister, from BJP, called Akhlaq’s killing a “simple misunderstanding” and said, “Muslims can continue to live in this country, but they will have to give up eating beef.”

In December 2015, the Uttar Pradesh police filed charges against 18 people. Nearly a score of hearings have been held since then, but there has been little progress in the case. Meanwhile, Akhlaq’s family relocated to Delhi because of concerns for their safety.

Jammu and Kashmir, October 2015

On October 9, 2015, a right-wing Hindu mob in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir allegedly threw gasoline bombs at a truck driven by Zahid Bhat, an 18-year-old trucker, because they suspected him – wrongly – of transporting beef. He died of his injuries at a hospital 10 days later. Two others traveling with him were also injured. Bhat was found to be transporting coal in his truck.

His death led to violent clashes between protesters and security forces in a south Kashmir village where he had lived. The state’s chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of the People’s Democratic Party, condemned the killing and announced compensation but the family refused to accept any money, saying they wanted justice.
Five people were arrested for murder, rioting, conspiracy, and use of explosives.

Himachal Pradesh, October 2015

A Hindu mob at Sarahan, a village near Simla, allegedly beat to death Noman, 22, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, on October 14, 2015, over suspicions that he was smuggling cows. The mob also beat up four other occupants of the truck. Police immediately arrested the four occupants, booking them under laws banning cow slaughter and preventing cruelty to animals.

Later, police also registered a case of murder and said they would investigate whether members of Hindu militant group Bajrang Dal were behind the attack.

Jharkhand, March 2016

A Muslim cattle trader, Mohammed Mazlum Ansari, 35, and a 12-year-old boy, Mohammed Imteyaz Khan, were found hangingfrom a tree in Jharkhand on March 18, 2016. Their hands were tied behind their backs and their bodies bore signs of mistreatment. The police arrested eight men, including a couple linked to a local cow protection group. The case is still pending in court.

Ansari’s brother, who runs a small shop in the village, told Human Rights Watch he had already spent 200,000 rupees (US$3,100) on the case and was determined to see it to the end but was not hopeful. “I don’t think we will receive justice,” he said. “The government is theirs. They are rich, they are powerful, the police is also theirs.”

Protests have erupted across India against the killing of Muslims by vigilante 'cow protection' groups.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in 15 cities across the country, as well as in London, amid growing anger over the Hindu nationalist government's silence over "beef lynchings".

At least a dozen men and boys have been attacked since 2014 by mobs accusing them of eating or trading beef.

In the capital, Delhi, about 2,000 people carrying placards reading "not in my name" sang songs and lit candles on Wednesday.

In Mumbai, hundreds including some Bollywood actors gathered under umbrellas in pouring rain to demonstrate.

It comes after about 20 men attacked four Muslims on a train in the outskirts of Delhi on Friday, stabbing to death a teenager and seriously injuring two others.

The Muslim victims said an argument over seats quickly turned into a brutal attack, with the mob accusing them of being "beef-eaters".

Many members of the Hindu majority consider cows sacred and the slaughter of the animals and consumption of beef is illegal or restricted across much of India.

Much of the recent violence has been focused on cows. Several fringe Hindu groups, apparently emboldened by the stunning political rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, have attacked Muslim cattle traders and dairy farmers.

Protesters in Delhi decried the silence of India's Hindu right-wing government (AP)

Rights groups say government officials, including the prime minister, have been slow to strongly condemn the attacks since coming to power in 2014 and that police action against perpetrators has been inadequate.

Five of the killings, almost all of them in broad daylight and in busy public areas, have taken place in the last three months.

On April 1, Pehlu Khan, a Muslim cattle trader, was lynched by a mob in the western state of Rajasthan as he transported cattle he had bought at an animal fair back to his home state of Haryana. Khan and his family were small dairy farmers.

In May, two Muslim men were beaten to death over allegations of cattle theft in India's north-east.

Over the last two years, vigilante groups, calling themselves cow protectors, have become active in small towns and cities across India.

Lower-caste Hindus who carry out undesirable tasks such as skinning dead cattle have also faced mob violence.